Conferences and Events
Hosted Seminar Series
Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis Seminar Series
A bimonthly lecture series, held on first and third Tuesdays during the academic year at 9:30 a.m., featuring scientists whose research interests complement those of departmental faculty.
Work-in-Progress Seminar
A bimonthly forum, generally held on second and fourth Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m., for students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty to present their ongoing research and gain valuable feedback from colleagues.
Spring FY2026 WIP will be held on Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m., unless noted otherwise
September 25, 2025
Jujun (Jack) Zhou, Ph.D. (Cheng Lab)
Gundeep Kaur, Ph.D. (Cheng Lab)
October 9, 2025
Jee Won Hwang, Ph.D. (Santos Lab)
Melanie Prodhomme, Ph.D. (Wood Lab)
October 23, 2025 POSTPONED
Biji Chatterjee, Ph.D. (Ishak/Rai Labs)
Zeba Siddiqui, Ph.D. (Wood Lab)
October 30, 2025
Puspa Das, Ph.D. (Cheng Lab)
Kevin Wanniarachchi, Ph.D. (Ishak Lab)
November 13, 2025
Jiahua Wang, Ph.D. (Cheng Lab)
Manashi Priyadarshini, Ph.D. (Bratton Lab)
November 20, 2025
Meigan Yu, Ph.D. (Cheng Lab)
Sukanya Roy, Ph.D. (McBride Lab)
December 11, 2025
Lillian Xue (Gautier Lab)
Dhurjhoti (DJ) Saha, Ph.D. (Bartholomew Lab)
January 6, 2026
Yalong Wang, Ph.D. (Bedford Lab)
January 13, 2026
Meigen Yu, Ph.D. (Cheng Lab)
January 27, 2026
Nakyung Oh, M.D. (Ishak Lab)
Monika Zelazowska, Ph.D. (McBride Lab)
February 17, 2026
Taiping Chen, Ph.D.
February 24, 2026
Han Xu, Ph.D.
March 10, 2026
Lakshmi Paniker Ph.D. (Cole Lab)
Yuzhen Li, Ph.D. (Wood Lab)
March 24, 2026
Rongjie Fu, Ph.D. (Xue Lab)
Sara Sanz Juste (Bartholomew Lab)
March 31, 2026
Leilei Shi, Ph.D. (Bedford Lab)
Jisun Lee (Cheng Lab)
April 14, 2026
Julie Beltran (Cole Lab)
Nicholas Zehrbach, Ph.D. (Ishak Lab)
April 28, 2026
Alexandra Krylova, M.S. (Ting Lab)
May 5, 2026
Dorcas Oladapo (Wood Lab)
Wei He, Ph.D. (Xu Lab)
May 26, 2026
Mingyu Lee, Ph.D. (Bedford Lab)
Qin Chen, Ph.D. (Cheng Lab)
Related Seminar Series
Graduate Program in Genetics & Epigenetics (G&E) Monthly Student Seminar Series (GEM)
Held on the second Thursday of the month at 12:30 p.m., this series is organized and presented by students from G&E labs. Most GEM seminars feature two student research talks.
Enjoy Science Seminar Series
The Enjoy Science seminars highlight the faculty research across MD Anderson and are typically held on first and third Thursdays at 10 a.m.
John H. Blaffer Lecture Series
The Blaffer Lecture series, organized by the Department of Genetics, is held on Tuesdays at noon during the academic year. Blaffer speakers are prominent researchers from a variety of fields and trainees have the opportunity to meet in a small group setting with the speakers.
Conferences & Retreats
Graduate Program in Genetics & Epigenetics (G&E) Retreat
The G&E Retreat was held November 7, 2025.
Center for Cancer Epigenetics Annual Spring Retreat
The most recent CCE retreat was held at Round Top Festival Institute, May 9–10, 2025.
Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis Seminar Speakers, FY 2026
Seminars will be held on Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m., unless noted otherwise
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Untangling enhancer-promoter interactions throughout mouse development
Pedro Pereira Da Rocha, Ph.D.
Stadtman Investigator
Unit of Genome Structure and Regulation
National Institutes of Health
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Thursday, October 2, 2025 (Postponed)
Targeting recently activated CD8⁺ TRM cells via JAML co-stimulation
Simon Eschweiler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Experimental Therapeutics
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Monday, October 6, 2025*
Repair of broken replication forks in human cells: Breaking dogmas and insights into cancer therapy
Raphael Souza Pavani, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Genome Integrity
National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Recombination and genome instability: How a friend becomes a foe
Wolf-Dietrich Heyer, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor and Chair
Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
University of California, Davis
Thursday, November 6, 2025
Tackling cancer immune evasion: Antigen presentation and beyond
Shengqing "Stan" Gu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Hematopoietic Biology and Malignancy
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thursday, November 20, 2025
From transcriptomic dark matter to therapeutic discovery: Targeting RNA-protein interactions in cancer
Shannon M. Lauberth, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 (note special date)
Mechanisms regulating cGAS-STING activation in cancer and therapeutic opportunities
Min-Guk Cho, Ph.D.
Research Associate
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Thursday, December 4, 2025
New methods for understanding and editing genomes
Doug Fowler, Ph.D.
Professor, Genome Sciences
University of Washington
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Targeting recently activated CD8⁺ TRM cells via JAML co-stimulation
Simon Eschweiler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Experimental Therapeutics
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Chonghui Cheng, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center
Professor, Molecular and Human Genetics
Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Baylor College of Medicine
Tuesday February 10, 2026
Susan Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Ben F. Love Chair in Cancer Research
Professor, Molecular and Human Genetics
Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Professor, Virology and Microbiology
Baylor College of Medicine
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Keji Zhao, Ph.D.
NIH Distinguished Investigator
Epigenome Biology
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institutes of Health
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Steven Josefowicz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Bing Ren, Ph.D.
Scientific Director and CEO
New York Genome Center
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
John Abrams, Ph.D.
Professor, Cell Biology
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Samuel Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Radiation Oncology and Applied Sciences
Adjunct Associate Professor, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, Volastra Therapeutics
Tuesday May 18, 2026
Emily Keung, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Assistant Professor, Surgical Oncology
MD Anderson Cancer Center